Cougars Sweep USC

Jeff Reynolds | BYU Athletic Communications | Posted Jan 25, 2002

PROVO -- Fueled by an offensive explosion, the fifth-ranked BYU men's volleyball team recorded its first 3-0 victory of the season, sweeping No. 12 USC, 30-26, 30-27, 30-27. The win improves the Cougars' record to 4-1 on the year, while the Trojans fall to 4-4.

The Cougars hit a blistering .444 on the night, racking up 47 kills on 90 swings with just seven errors. Senior Joaquin Acosta led the way with a .542 average, connecting on 14-of-24 swings. All-American Mike Wall was right on his heels, racking up 13 kills on 28 attempts (.321). Junior outside hitter Jaime Mayol came on strong, especially in game three, posting a .583 average at the net. Mayol was credited with eight kills on 12 swings, including five kills in the final game.

"You've got to like the numbers Joaquin and Jaime put up tonight," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "Both teams hit really well tonight. I think, overall, we played well, but I don't think we played the kind of match we wanted to."

In game one, the two teams literally traded serves throughout the entire match. Tied at 4-4, both teams traded serves through 29 straight serves. Tied at 25-25, freshman setter Carlos Moreno recorded his third kill of the game to give the Cougars a 26-25 lead. A Brook Billings error game BYU the largest lead of the game at 27-25, but followed the error with his third kill of the game. Billings committed a service error to give the Cougars the 29-26 advantage before Acosta improved the lead to 29-26. Coming off the bench, Jonathan Alleman served the ace for the game-winner. To put this game in perspective, the actual score of the game, under the old scoring method, would have been just 5-3.

In game two, Wall broke a 20-20 tie with one of three kills in the game. He then picked up the Cougars third ace of the match to extend BYU's lead to 22-20. Back-to-back blocks by middle blocker Chris Gorny gave the Cougars a 24-20 advantage when Mayol pushed the lead to 25-20 with his third kill of the game. Josh Day ended the 5-0 BYU run. Billings would get USC back to within two at 28-26, but the BYU offense was too much, going on to a 30-27 win .

In the final game of the match, the Cougars battled through seven ties. Mayol recorded the go-ahead point with his first of three kills that would eventually end the match. Mayol gave BYU a 28-26 lead with back-to-back kills. USC's Ian Gallagher kept the Trojans' hope alive with his fourth and final kill of the night, but Mayol gave the Cougars a 29-27 lead before Luka Slabe came off the bench to pick up the game-winning ace.

The two teams will battle again Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. Match time is slated for 7 p.m. (MST).